Best Demolition Derby

The Trail of Dead's reputation preceded its March concert at the Bottleneck; people knew that the high-energy Austin, Texas-based band was going to break stuff onstage. However, the scope and frenzy of its destructive impulses must have shocked even the most jaded observers. This was drum-set-devastating, ceiling-panel-pillaging, speaker-smashing chaos, made all the more impressive by the way the bedlam matched the cathartic compositions. And the band didn't wait until the end of the set to destroy its gear, either; it simply used overturned snares and savaged strings to keep its beautiful noise alive.